Pangloss stops Candide from saving James, the good man, as “the Lisbon harbor was formed expressly for the Anabaptist to drown in,” Voltaire satirizes this event, the theory of optimism, and being positive in situations such as these to show the complete absurdity in it. Through his efforts, however, he fell in and everyone watched as he drowned in the Lisbon. For example, early on in the book, James, the Anabaptist, saves a frenzied soldier from drowning in the water. Suffering is seen as one of the worst wrongdoings in society but characters such as Pangloss and Candide believe that that is what is best for society. These exaggerated events ultimately show the complete absurdity of the situations and helps gets the points of controversy across to the reader. Exaggeration is applied to show Europe’s deteriorating society by showing the superstition of things, the church, faulty rulers, war, earthquakes, and the punishment of innocent people. Voltaire portrays optimism as being absurd through his use of exaggeration.
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